George Elokobi praised a “commanding” second-half performance after Maidstone took the derby honours at Tonbridge.

Elokobi’s side are up to third in National League South, two points behind leaders Torquay, after winning 3-1 at Longmead on Boxing Day.

The Stones boss wasn’t overly impressed with the first-half display, for while George Fowler scored after only 68 seconds, Tonbridge grew into the game and levelled through Liam Vincent.

But Elokobi liked what he saw after the break as Aaron Blair’s 25-yard cracker and an injury-time third from Matt Bentley extended their unbeaten run to 16 games.

“Credit to Tonbridge, they made it hard for us,” said Elokobi.

“We knew it was a tough place to come and get a result and our players were fully prepared to make sure they carry on with the positive results we’ve been getting.

“I thought it was a commanding second half and rightly so the best team won.”

Elokobi saw Maidstone make the perfect start with Fowler’s early opener but he ended up making some tactical adjustments at half-time after Angels found their way into the derby.

“I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t think after the first 15 minutes we actually controlled territory and possession,” said Elokobi.

“I thought we were a little bit careless in our passes and we weren’t working hard enough out of possession.

“We weren’t running harder to make angles for one another but you get this – obviously our players must have had a good Christmas.

“I thought coming in at half-time 1-1 was a fair score and you have to give credit where it’s due, Tonbridge pushed us and we didn’t look after those basics, defending our box and making sure we meet things instead of waiting for things to drop and react.

“But we spoke about it, we helped the players tactically, making sure we spoke about some of those limitations we’d analysed and worked on to expose those weaknesses.

“We said in games like these it’s about someone stepping up and making sure they write their name in the history book and welcome Aaron Blair. It was a fantastic strike.

“I thought he had a frustrating first half, it wasn’t coming off for him as much as he wanted.

“We just told him to be calm but it was important we used him in the second half in the wide areas because we weren’t getting a lot of joy centrally.

“Aerially, I thought their centre-backs were a bit dominant in that sense and it was about making sure can he operate in an area where he’s hard to mark?

“It was about taking control of the game and I thought it was a very commanding second half.

“We didn’t look like we were going to concede and I thought the team that was going to go on and win the game was Maidstone United Football Club.

“As the game wore on, we expanded a little bit, there were more spaces for us to put sequences of passes together and use the forward line as well as I wanted us to.

“At the end of the day, it’s a local derby and we wanted three points.

“We wanted to finish the year on a high and the boys wanted to stay unbeaten away from home.

“That’s something they’ve galvanised themselves with their attitude in training, their commitment, desire, determination, discipline, high standards and consistent levels of how they work for one another, and that was evident in the second half.”